Anima
by walutahanga
Summary: Rangers have always had connections to their spirit animals. Contrary to popular opinion, they don’t always see eye to eye. Formerly titled 'Pegasus'.
1. Pegasus

**Pegasus**

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**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is not mine.  
**Rating**: PG-13.  
**Summary**: Rangers have always had connections to their spirit animals. Contrary to popular opinion, they don't always see eye to eye.

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Billy had always seen the world in terms of physics. 1 + 1 2, x mc2, and so forth. Neat, simple, effective. He understood maths. What he didn't understand was people with their thousands of variables. 1 + 1 didn't always equal 2, and trying to apply a mathematic formula to your girlfriend is a good way of getting dumped.

"I'm not a damn number!" Violet shouted on her way out, slamming Billy's bedroom door so hard his Junior Chemist trophy fell off the shelf.

The Pegasus agreed.

"Quiet," Billy muttered, sitting at his desk and begginning work on his new scanner. He was upgrading his zord, and had brought some of the work home with him.

_No_.

Billy had had the Pegasus in his head for several weeks now, and it hadn't gotten any easier. He'd gotten along quite well with the Triceratops. It had been a creature of aggression and battle, and it was quite happy to leave the thinking up to Billy. The Pegasus, on the other hand, liked giving advice. Nay, it _insisted_ on giving it.

There was a sense of interest, as if it tried to crane over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He did the mental equivalent of flicking it away.

_What are you doing?_

"Working on your sensors. Now shh."

_Why_?

"Because I need to concentrate."

_No, I mean why are you upgrading me? _

Billy picked out a smaller tool.

"I believe with these new sensors, your range will increase significantly and thus carry out your designated purprose with more speed and accuracy."

There was a long pause during which Billy hoped the zord had gotten the idea and would let him get on with his work.

_That's nearly exactly the answer you gave Violet_, the Pegasus said after a moment, making him jump and nearly damage some delicate circutry.

"What?" He said, annoyed by the near-miss.

_When she asked you why you were taking her to the science fair, you said that with two different minds analyzing the problems, you could understand and solve the exhibits with greater speed and accuracy._

Billy wiped off a tool with a white gauze.

"What is the relevance of your statement?"

_You could have just said you liked spending time with her_. The Pegasus sounded sad. It gave Billy pause, and he lay his tools down carefully in their case. He didn't really understand the Pegasus sometimes, as closely as they were linked. It was a creature of magic and whimsy, relying on intuition rather than logic, urging him to analyze feelings rather than facts. Once it had made him stop in a park just so they could quote 'smell the flowers.' As Billy was highly allergic to just about everything in nature and the park was Rita's favourite attack site, that incident hadn't ended well.

Still, the Pegasus was right in 72 of advice it gave in regards to relationships, whilst Billy's own record was a dismal 6 ½ .

"Your input is noted," he said, adding kindly: "I will remember for next time."

_You do that._

Sarcasm needed no translation.

---

As zords went, the Pegasus didn't last long. It was destroyed a few months later, with the Megazord. It's dying consciousness was ripped from Billy's mind, and his first emotion – before grief or shock or anger – was a shameful, guilty relief. No longer would he have to tolerate it's advice, or it's interest in matters he did not understand.

He wouldn't truly realize what he had lost until several years later, long after he had lost his powers. He was in the hanger bay, finishing an upgrade to Tommy's zord. The enormous robot sat placidly, waiting for him to finish.

_Why do you do this? _The great mind reaching into his was filled with gentle curiousity.

The shock of familiar sensation, like the tickle of a limb long amputated, was so great Billy couldn't speak for a few seconds. It had been a long time since he spoke to a zord. The zords, as a rule, didn't talk to any other human but their own. They were accustomed to Billy – even fond of him in their own way – but talking to him was highly unusual. He had to wet his lips a few times before he could reply.

"So that you will run more efficiently." 

_Yes, but _why_ do you do this?_

He looked up at the great machines, and tried to see them as he once had. Once upon a time, he knew, he had painstakingly maintained them and upgraded them, and walked them through every sim he could think of. He still did those things, but he no longer enjoyed it as he once had. Now he did it because someone had to and he was the best available.

"It's my job," he said simply.

The great mind probed his gently, tasting the truth of the answer.

_I see._

It withdrew from him, and Billy regarded his remaining work without interest. Finally he picked up a tool and slowly continued. The magic had been gone for a long time now. He had done just fine without it before, and he would do just fine now.

In the back of his mind, he dreamed of escaping on a blue horse with wings as wide as the sky.

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	2. Sabertooth

**Sabertooth**

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**Rating**: G

**Disclaimer**: Power rangers is not mine, I make no money from this.

**Summary**: The sabertooth didn't feel quite right to Aisha.

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The sabertooth didn't feel right to Aisha.

She didn't say anything to Zordon, but it felt like an alien presence in her mind rather than the natural extension he said it should be.

The sabertooth was a feline: cunning, sleek, and cautious. It never entered a situation without first examining every angle. Aisha, however, tended to charge straight in. In battle, she often felt torn between the sabertooth's instincts and what came naturally to her. Worse; she sensed it was faintly baffled by her as well, and she spent many nights worrying that it secretly wished her gone and Trini back.

Then, one night after she'd cried herself to sleep, she had a dream. She sat on a sun-warmed rock on a grassy savana, watching a pride of sabertooths picking over a kill.

One padded up to her. It was a huge animal, liquid muscle rippling under tawny-gold hide. She stared, transfixed, into brown eyes flecked with gold. Warm breath washed over her face, smelling of old blood. Had she wanted to, she could have reached out and touched the curved, overhanging teeth with a small, shaking hand.

The teeth filled her vision as the massive head moved in, and she squeezed her eyes shut in terror. A wet nose snuffled against her cheek, scenting the tracks of old tears.

_My child_, the sabertooth whispered in her mind. It sounded awkward, as if it groped for the right words. _Not all children resemble their parents. Nor should they._ _What matters is the bond that is shared. _

She woke up, her face tingling from the kiss of a rough tongue.

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	3. Firebird

**Title**: Firebird

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is not mine.

**Summary**: A drabble, set after the original dinozords were immolated and turned into new ones (at least that was my understanding of it).

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The Pterodactyl was a creature of air. While it was her patron, Kimberly's feelings were light and whimsical, as weightless as the air she breathed. She wove dreams like clouds, of white knights on gallant steeds and magical kisses and the hazy horizon of happily ever after. Her dreams were weightless things, ungrounded and hazy in their relation to reality, but harming no one.

The Firebird was another matter.

When it rose, it scorched away the clouds, mist evaporating under the heat of it's wings. It rose up inside her, a blossoming column of fire. It's heat was echoed in the hot blush of her cheeks and the fevered burn of her skin. When her fingers trailed down Tommy's arm, it was no longer thoughtless. She watched the muscle ripple beneath his skin and felt a fiery bird unfolding it's wings in her belly.

When she raised her mouth to be kissed, something had changed. Tommy's eyes opened, staring into hers with an expression of surprise. Perhaps he felt the heat of her mouth, exhaled on hitched breath. His arm wrapped about her waist and pulled her in close, tucking her against the solid wall of heat that was his body.

His touch seared, as if there was a fire inside him too.

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End file.
